After missing the playoffs, the Hartford Wolf Pack open the season with many new players.

CROMWELL — The 2013-14 season ended with a flurry for the Hartford Wolf Pack, who won 18 of their final 25 games and were among the best teams in the American Hockey League during the home stretch of their schedule.

As it turned out, the surge wasn't enough to overcome a horrendous start. The Wolf Pack finished nine points out of a playoff spot, missing the postseason for the second year in a row and third time in five seasons.

That's not part of the development plan for the New York Rangers, the Wolf Pack's parent club. It was no surprise, then, that the Rangers overhauled the roster of their AHL affiliate over the summer.

As coach Ken Gernander assembled his team last week at Champions Skating Center, the locker room was sprinkled with new players. Last year's veteran core was replaced by a new group of experienced players, so the Wolf Pack will look considerably different when they begin their season Sunday in Syracuse (5 p.m.).

"We swapped out all our vets," Gernander said. "There's a lot of changes and this will is a new team. We're optimistic."

The Wolf Pack sputtered in the first half last season, undermined by inexperience in goal and inconsistent overall play. But the switch flipped in the last two months and the team won nine of its last 10 regular season games to finish with 81 points.

Much of the success was attributed to stability in goal. Dov Grumet-Morris and David LeNeveu provided an upgrade after each joined the team during the season. The plan had been for Cam Talbot to take the position, but he was promoted to New York early in the season and the Wolf Pack used Jason Missiaen, Jeff Malcolm and Scott Stajcer.

Missiaen returns this season, but he'll be behind 29-year-old veteran Cedrick Desjardins, who has played 219 AHL games and six NHL games. Desjardins has been an AHL All-Star and led Syracuse to the Calder Cup Finals in 2013.

Among the other new players with significant AHL experience are forwards Chris Mueller and Chris Bourque. Mueller, 28, has logged 383 AHL games and has three 20-goal seasons on his resume. Bourque, brother of Wolf Pack forward Ryan Bourque, has 433 points in 437 AHL games and has won three Calder Cups.

There's also forward Nick Tarnasky, who has played 369 AHL games and 245 NHL games, and Ryan Potulny, a former Calder Cup champion with 408 AHL games behind him.

"I think we have a good mix, where we've got some veterans that will kind of bolster our lineup and give us a good foundation, and I think we've got some youthful enthusiasm with some of our younger guys," Gernander said. "I think it's just a good mix. We've just got to kind of get everybody pulling in the same direction."

There are holdovers, such as defensemen Dylan McIlrath and Conor Allen, and forwards Danny Kristo, Oscar Lindberg and Ryan Bourque. Stamford native Ryan Haggerty, a rookie out of RPI, is also a promising forward after playing well in training camp with the Rangers.

"Definitely, we have guys with winning pedigrees … they bring an intangible," Ryan Bourque said. "You can't really learn or develop that unless you've been through it. We have guys who have had success and I think that's huge. We'll be able to soak it in from those older guys"

Ryan Bourque can look at his brother for guidance. The brothers, sons of Hall of Famer Ray Bourque, have never played on the same team aside from summer leagues and pickup games. Ryan, 23, is coming off a breakout season (21 goals) and may be nearing an opportunity in the NHL.

For now, he'll savor the time with his brother. Chris Bourque played with the Boston and Providence Bruins two years ago and spent last season playing in Russia and Switzerland.

"It's definitely something that, kind of growing up as kids, we thought it would be pretty cool," Bourque said. "But because of our age difference, we weren't really able to do it until the professional level. … You can talk about it all you want, but nothing will happen unless there's interest from the other side. Oddly enough, New York contacted Chris' agent. So that was really cool. It's something we're really looking forward to."

After three AHL seasons, Ryan Bourque is also somewhat of a veteran leader in the Wolf Pack locker room. Gernander said he likes the leadership structure of the roster and is happy the team is opening on the road, with a long bus ride to Syracuse to start the season.

"An opportunity for the guys to get to know each other," Gernander said.

It's also an opportunity for Gernander to learn the personalities of his players. He is starting his eighth season as head coach and has been with the organization since it arrived in Hartford in 1997. Each season brings new challenges and learning experiences for a coach, and Gernander took lessons from last year.

"At the start of the year, when things weren't going well, you try to control and structure things and have everybody adhere," Gernander said. "At the end of the year, when we were having some of our better success, we were just playing. So you've got to strike a balance there.

"There's a real big importance placed on development here and we're certainly not going to deviate from that. But we can work a few more things into our practices that aren't maybe as geared toward individual development, but should help our overall success rate as a team."